Transportation Policy
Streetsblog Basics
The Known Unknowns of New York City’s Streets
Unlike New York, Copenhagen, Denmark's planners measure city streets for much more than "Vehicular Level of Service." This map, for example, quantifies stationary activities on a summer weekday in the city center. From Public Spaces Public Life by Lars Gemzoe and Jan Gehl, 1996.
January 23, 2007
Teaching City Gov’t to Count More Than Just Cars and Trucks
Transportation Alternatives issued a new study by transportation consultant Bruce Schaller today called Traffic Information in NYC (PDF file). The report, according to T.A., "uncovers large gaps in what is known about traffic and transportation in New York City."
January 23, 2007
New Congestion Pricing Poll in Line With London & Stockholm
A new Quinnipiac Poll finds that New York City voters oppose the idea of congestion pricing by a margin of about two-to-one and the idea of East River Bridge tolls by more than four-to-one. The opposition exists despite the finding that only 24 percent of New York City voters surveyed "usually travel into and out of Manhattan by car."
January 18, 2007
Traffic Signals Timed for Bicycling
Here is an interesting bike infrastructure story out of Copenhagen, Denmark. 30,000 Cyclists Get the Green Wave:
January 17, 2007
PLANYC 2030 Community Leader Meetings
Mayor Bloomberg's Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability is running a series of meetings with community groups. Though the meeting times are posted publicly on the PLANYC 2030 web site, no locations are listed and word has it these borough-wide "Community Leader" meetings are going to be pretty strictly invitation-only.
January 16, 2007
The Times is a Changin’
A chart illustrating the number who commute by auto to the Central Business District from Bruce Schaller's study for the Manhattan Institute, Battling Traffic: What New Yorkers Think About Road Pricing.
January 12, 2007
Making Hell’s Kitchen Less Hellish
Monday night was the first meeting of the Ninth Avenue Renaissance project. About 130 neighborhood stakeholders filled the gym at the Holy Cross School in Midtown to begin a process to transform Ninth Avenue from a dysfunctional, traffic-choked, polluted highway into, what organizer Christine Berthet says should be "a neighborhood Main Street" for Hell's Kitchen and Clinton.
January 10, 2007
A Tale of Two Cities’ Parking Policies
As soon as Mayor Bloomberg finally decides to deal with New York City's shameful and destructive government employee parking abuse situation, all he has to do is steal the simple new parking policy being instituted by Aetna Inc., a major employer in Hartford, Connecticut. The Hartford Courant reports:
January 8, 2007
Day Two: Ten Things for Governor Spitzer to Fix
Eliot Spitzer's campaign for governor promised, "Day One: Everything Changes." Well, it's Day Two and it's time to govern. Much of New York City's transportation policy rests in the hands of Albany legislators and agency officials. Here are ten things that the new governor can do to make New York City's streets more livable and transportation policy more sensible. Feel free to add more to the list in the comments section.
January 3, 2007
New German Community Models Car-Free Living
The Vauban Department of Transportation gets to work. Schritt Tempo: Walking Speed.
December 22, 2006